AYODHYA, April 5: The Bharatiya Janata Party will ensure the construction of a controversial temple at the site of the Babri mosque soon after this month's polls they are expected to win, India's deputy prime minister said on Monday.

Lal Krishna Advani made the promise at an election rally in the northern Indian town of Ayodhya, a flash point of tensions since the demolition of the 16th century mosque in 1992.

"I am fully confident that shortly after the new government is formed, a magnificent temple will be built on the site of lord Ram's birth," Mr Advani said at a rally of about 5,000 people.

"This will be achieved without any bitterness, without any pressure, without any conspiracies, through mutual consent (of Hindus and Muslims)," he said in comments seen as a bid to mollify hardline Hindus who are upset with the delay in the construction of the temple.

Mr Advani said his confidence was based on his discussions with different groups that are party to the deeply emotional row. Giving more details now would harm the process of reconciliation, he said. About 3,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed after the mosque's destruction.

The BJP came to the centre stage in the late 1980s on the back of a Hindu revivalist campaign that sought the construction of a Ram temple on the site. But since coming to power in 1998, the party has been forced by its secular coalition allies to put its pet Hindu themes on the backburner.

However, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's government launched efforts to settle the row over the controversial site - languishing in courts for decades - through negotiations between Hindu and Muslim groups. -Reuters